1. Field of the Invention
The disclosures herein relate to a touch panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
A touch panel (i.e., touchscreen panel) is an input device that allows input to be directly entered into a display, and is placed in front of the display. Touch panels are widely used in various applications because of their capability of allowing direct inputting based on visual information provided by the display.
A resistive-type touch panel is widely known in the art. The resistive-type touch panel includes an upper electrode substrate and a lower electrode substrate having respective transparent conductive films. These substrates are arranged such that the corresponding transparent conductive films face each other. When pressure is applied to a point on the upper electrode substrate, the transparent conductive films are brought into contact with each other, thereby allowing the position of the pressed point to be detected.
The resistive-type touch panel is classified into a four-wire-type and a five-wire-type. In the four-wire-type, X-axis electrodes are disposed on one of the upper electrode substrate and the lower electrode substrate, and Y-axis electrodes are disposed on the other substrate (see Patent Document 1, for example). In the five-wire-type, X-axis electrodes and Y-axis electrodes are both disposed on the lower electrode substrate while the upper electrode substrate serves as a probe for detecting voltage (see Patent Document 2, for example).
The four-wire-type touch panels include those which allow multiple points of contact to be detected (see Patent Document 4, for example).
There is no five-wire-type touch panel that allows multiple points of contact to be readily detected.
Accordingly, it may be desirable to provide a five-wire-type touch panel that allows multiple points of contact to be readily detected.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2004-272722
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2008-293129
[Patent Document 3] Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. H11-353101
[Patent Document 4] Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2009-176114
[Patent Document 5] Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2012-230504
[Patent Document 6] Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2012-141941
[Patent Document 7] Japanese National Publication of International Patent Application No. 2005-505065
[Patent Document 8] Japanese National Publication of International Patent Application No. 2011-502314